Schools burn in a divided Cameroon English speakers feel marginalised
AT LEAST half a dozen schools in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions have been burnt in the past month as a general strike in the areas enters its 10th month.
The strike began in November last year with anglophone teachers and lawyers in the north-west and the south-east protesting that English-speaking citizens are marginalised in the bilingual but Francophone dominant country.
Reopening divisions apparently settled in a decades-old unification process and as the government cracked down on the demonstrations, activists soon started demanding federalism or secession.
Some parents in Bamenda, Cameroon’s largest English-speaking city, said it is no longer safe after their children’s school, the Baptist Comprehensive High School, was set ablaze two weeks ago.
As the burnings continue, residents say schools are being targeted for failing to respect a call to strike issued by anglophone protesters. Messages have been issued on social media this month calling for businesses to close three days a week until anglophone activists are released from prison.
The upheaval poses a serious challenge to the government of President Paul Biya, which is also grappling with havoc caused by Boko Haram spilling into its borders from Nigeria in the north and militia incursions from the Central African Republic in the east.
Security experts fear further upheaval may disrupt the scheduled general elections next year.
At the centre of the conflict is the fact that French-speaking regions dominate the government and the education and legal systems, although English-speaking Cameroonians form 20% of the 23 million population.
Since late 2016, protests and strikes have escalated over the economic and political marginalisation of English speakers.
Secessionist groups, aided by the Anglophone diaspora, have emerged this year and are seeking to radicalise the population.
The mobilisation of lawyers, teachers and students in recent months has revived identity-based movements which date back to the 1970s. The secessionists are demanding a return to the federal model that existed from 1961 to 1972.
“While the risk of partition of the country is low, the risk of a resurgence of the problem in the form of armed violence is high,” said the International Crisis Group (ICG).
Biya, a strongman who has been slammed for fuelling tensions, has sought to crack down on the protests. In Bamenda, at least four people have been killed since the crisis began. Security forces have fired live ammunition at peaceful protesters.
Three civil society leaders face the death penalty on treason charges for organising protests. Hundreds of others have been detained.
It is expected that Biya will probably contest next year’s presidential poll at the age of 85, although he is widely regarded as the personification of the current crisis, according to political analyst Adamo Nzie.
The president has exacerbated matters by his continued “indifference” and general failure to make speeches in English, said Nzie.
The language issue dates back to the decision to abolish a federal system uniting the former British colonial territory of Southern Cameroon with French Cameroun in favour of a single republic in 1972.
The unification process was based on centralisation and assimilation. “This has led the Anglophone minority to feel politically and economically marginalised, and that their cultural differences are ignored,” said ICG.
Despite its crackdown, the government has sought to assuage Anglophone opposition by establishing a National Commission for Bilingualism and Multiculturalism, recruiting Anglophone magistrates and hiring 1 000 bilingual teachers.
In addition, the internet has been reconnected to striking regions.
Speaking at the launch of the National Commission, Prime Minister Philemon Yunji Yang ruled out separation: “Cameroon’s unity is a precious heritage which no one has the right to take liberties with.”
However, Nzie accused the Biya administration of merely trying to curry favour ahead of the next polls. “It’s too little too late to halt the cogwheel towards secession,” he said.